Friday, April 11, 2025
4/11/2025
A Real-Time Hyperspectral Laparoscopic Stereo Imaging System for Robot-Assisted Surgery - Faster recovery, reduced hospital stays, and a quicker return to normal activities are the most evident advantages of laparoscopic surgery. More than 13 million laparoscopic procedures are performed every year. Laparoscopic surgery has become the technique of choice for virtually every kind of abdominal surgery. Robot‐assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is the most common surgical approach performed for prostate cancer. However, the current oncological outcome (undetectable prostate‐specific antigen with no evidence of cancer recurrence) and functional outcome (recovery of continence and erectile function) are only achieved in 62–70% of prostate cancer patients. Unfortunately, the endoscope used in current laparoscopic robotic surgery does not allow for the intraoperative assessment of tissue to determine if residual tumors remain. Because of positive tumor margin, cancer recurrence inevitably leads to the need for further treatments which are expensive as well as morbid. Though fluorescence imaging via indocyanine green has provided insights into tissue perfusion and improved tissue contrast during laparoscopic surgery, its drawbacks include a short half‐life in the bloodstream and the requirement for contrast agent injection. As a result, there is an unmet need to develop label‐free imaging techniques that can detect cancerous tissue in real time during laparoscopic robotic surgery. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a label‐free hyperspectral laparoscopic stereo imaging system for robotic surgery. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) provides not only high‐resolution spatial images but also spectral data at each pixel. Both spectral and spatial information can be used to identify various types of tissues including malignant tumors. This research is based on the success of using our large‐size HSI system in both fresh surgical specimens of human tissue and in vivo animals. With our advanced machine learning methods, we achieved a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 97.1% for cancer detection in fresh surgical tissue specimens of more than 200 human patients. However, current HSI systems are too bulky and their image acquisition speed is too slow for intraoperative use. In this project, we propose to integrate real‐time snapshot HSI cameras with a 3D stereo endoscope and test the system in the prostates of 93 human patients (Aim 1). We will develop and evaluate advanced deep learning algorithms to automatically detect malignant tissues on hyperspectral images (Aim 2). We will integrate our hyperspectral endoscopic stereo imaging system with a da Vinci robot from Intuitive Surgical and perform robot‐assisted laparoscopic surgery in a preclinical study (Aim 3). The new capabilities of the proposed hyperspectral laparoscopic imaging system include: i) the capability to differentiate malignant from benign tissue during surgery and ii) the capability to map tissue oxygen saturation (StO2), near‐infrared perfusion index (NIR‐PI), organ hemoglobin index (OHI), and tissue water index (TWI). In this research, the utilization of quantitative hyperspectral imaging for robot‐assisted laparoscopic surgery represents a major innovation in minimally invasive surgery. The academic‐industrial partnership among UT Southwestern, UT Dallas, and Intuitive Surgical will work in a strategic alliance and utilize unique resources at each site to ensure the translation of the hyperspectral laparoscopic stereo imaging technique to the commercial da Vinci robot for broad applications and improved surgical outcomes.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).